{"id":1402,"date":"2017-05-18T23:57:11","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T06:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b-spoke.net\/?p=1402"},"modified":"2026-06-29T22:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:00:29","slug":"whats-the-objective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/2017\/05\/18\/whats-the-objective\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s The Objective?"},"content":{"rendered":"
A Five Minute Read<\/h6>\n

When the first call came in to the Help Desk, the agent presumed it was user error. Within 20 minutes\"people\"<\/a>, everyone knew this was a problem \u2013 rather, in industry parlance, a \u201cCritical Incident\u201d. Soon, redundant systems failed, and – forget for a moment the tens of thousands of people who would be unable to reach 911 – the paramount concern was What if people aren\u2019t able to stream \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d?!?<\/h3>\n

Per department protocol, a conference call was opened for the designated troubleshooters, relevant software and hardware engineers, and, soon, every damn vice president imaginable. As each joined, new theories (couched as fact) were bandied in between bouts of blame deflection. Technical resources tried implementing fixes that ultimately made things worse. Everyone blamed the Network guys.<\/h3>\n

Tempers flared as executives demanded of the Situation Manager: DO SOMETHING!<\/h3>\n

One of the hardest things for a Man of Action to do is\u2026 nothing. But acting for the sake of \u201cdoing something\u201d is rarely wise. Being a Man of Action does not mean jumping blindly into the thick of things, without considering the landscape, impact, or consequences.<\/p>\n

This is a hard lesson to learn, much less to teach. Reaching for someone who\u2019s falling, while instinctive, usually means two people are now tumbling. Restraint takes effort.<\/p>\n

In another case, Kenny the Telephone Supervisor would jump into \u201caction\u201d and start fulfilling urgent hotel guest requests: On the one hand, that\u2019s commendable can-do spirit; on the other, he\u2019s abandoning an arguably more important post.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Being a Man of Action means responding<\/em>, not reacting<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Being a Man of Action, luckily, doesn\u2019t require having every answer to every possible scenario at the ready. Rather, it relies on being able to quickly synthesize ground conditions, apply a pre-considered framework, decide, and act.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the answer? How can we learn this?<\/p>\n

Truthfully, there isn\u2019t an answer, but a question.<\/p>\n

On my list of Annoying Questions I Ask in My Consulting Practice, this is my third-most asked. Whenever a client (or a colleague) has a suggestion or a question \u2013 about what work to add to a project, how to design a business process, or just what to do next, I ask the same thing:<\/p>\n

What Is Your Objective?<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If they can explain to me what they hope to attain \u2013 in terms of tangible, measurable benefits \u2013 then I believe they have rational, practicable solutions to their dilemmas and are ready to take Action. If they clearly have not thought it through, hemming and hawing through unstructured answers (or worse, a preconceived, preferred solution), it is time to hit the white board.<\/p>\n

The Omnipresent Objective<\/h4>\n

Objectives are, simply put, the reason<\/em> behind doing anything. Objectives are ubiquitous. Objectives describe whether it is worth doing in the first place. Think of objectives as the benefit you want to achieve, the result you would like to accomplish. Framing an objective at its higher, loftier position allows for great flexibility of action.<\/p>\n

Customer Objectives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes we don\u2019t get to set objectives; sometimes those pesky creatures called \u201ccustomers\u201d set our objectives. Most of the time, customer needs are cut-and-dried (I shouldn\u2019t need to explain why<\/em> I want my diet Coke with no ice, I just do); occasionally, though, we need to understand their deeper need before we can deliver value.<\/p>\n

This can be when selling something \u2013 if we take the time to understand what results customers seek, we can be more creative about finding the right solution (rather than trying to determine which of our products we can put them in). When responding to customer complaints, focusing on their underlying need helps us recover \u2013 often service lapsed because whatever they said they wanted (or we initially promised) wasn\u2019t available. Understanding underlying needs leads to options.<\/p>\n

Objectives Save Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being able to articulate objectives makes leaders more efficient.<\/p>\n

There are few things more painful than listening to a micromanager direct his or her subordinates. The MM dives into excruciating, step-by-step detail on how every part of the assignment must be done. If the job is subcontracting building a fence, maybe this specificity is appropriate. But for \u201cthinking\u201d work, forget it. Later, the micromanager will almost certainly complain that she didn\u2019t get what she wanted, blaming the staff. Microscopically regulating the work restricts the employee to irrelevantly narrow standards. There is no framework for making judgment calls, so things not articulated get ignored.<\/p>\n

Frequently a micromanager will complain that \u201cit would be faster to do it myself\u201d; certainly, if everything is delivered as instructions. There is no benefit in being engaged with the work, so employees do the minimum, and eventually become dissatisfied drones. It probably doesn\u2019t matter if the fence painter is satisfied or \"\"engaged with his work; the fence will turn out pretty much the same, either way. For thought-driven assignments, remember that people are hired for their ability to\u2026 think.<\/p>\n

Micromanagers always have too much on their plates because they can\u2019t delegate. There isn\u2019t enough time in the micromanager\u2019s day because they are too busy being prescriptive.<\/p>\n

Instead, set expectations by clarifying the target \u2013 with clear, measurable results. Focus on priorities, not details. Now when an employee comes across something unexpected, she can weigh different courses of actions back against the objectives. Which one(s) will most closely accomplish the goal? Those are the questions a Man of Action is asking.<\/p>\n

Thinking Under Pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Which brings us back to that crashing data network. Before authorizing Action, a good Situation Manager reviews the relevant, immediate objectives. Are we trying to find out why we had a failure? Or are we trying to get things back up and running? Are we more concerned about speed? Cost of effort? Simultaneous failures? A Man of Action doesn\u2019t make these objectives up on the fly, she has them at the ready \u2013 and applies them against facts as presented in the emergency.<\/p>\n

And back at the hotel, when Kenny came back from making deliveries, he discovered that even more calls piled up, waiting to be dispatched. Telephone operators did what they could to assign tickets, but they were busy answering phones and besides, there was no clear delegation.<\/span><\/h3>\n

In debrief, I asked Kenny, \u201cWhat is your primary objective?\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cTo deliver what the guest wants when the guest expects it,\u201d he replied.<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201cthat\u2019s our department\u2019s mission statement. What is your objective?\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cTo get the towels to Mrs. Johnson in 1514.\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said again. \u201cYour objective is to keep all of our resources balanced, and to deploy them to the Mrs. Johnsons of the world. If there is truly no other way to get that assignment completed, then you took appropriate action. How else could you have accomplished this objective?\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cI could have asked a room service waiter who wasn\u2019t busy to do it. I could have doubled up on assignments to service agents. I could have put out a radio call for anyone to help. I could have found out when<\/u> she needed them \u2013 or if there were other calls ahead of her that could be de-prioritized\u2026.\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n

Focusing on his objectives freed him to come up with better solutions than leaving his post \u2013 where he is the only dispatcher on duty. This is not<\/em> a \u201cNot My Job\u201d mentality: a Man of Action knows who best should accomplish what when.<\/p>\n

A Man of Action does not need to know how to do everything that might ever need to be done, ever. By understanding the underlying business results sought, though, (s)he can make better decisions, resolve customer complaints, meet customer needs, and take work off the boss\u2019 plate.<\/p>\n

Understanding and clarifying our objectives comes in handy in all walks of life \u2013 it is vital to managing projects and<\/em> business processes<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarifying objectives – that is, understanding the rationale behind expectations – allows a Man of Action to act wisely.<\/p>\n

Properly articulating the “why” improves customer satisfaction, response speed, employee engagement, and more. <\/p>\n

(Part One of Two) Continue reading What’s The Objective?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[25,33,40,47,53],"class_list":["post-1402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-managing-people","tag-customers","tag-expectations","tag-getting-shit-done","tag-man-of-action","tag-objectives"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/overall-featured.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2441,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/2441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}